World Series: Abraham has front seat to history

BOSTON — The perspective from the Red Sox bullpen is a bit different than say, from the box seats or the State Street Pavilion. As Brian Abraham was watching Shane Victorino's dramatic grand slam clear the left field wall to send the Tigers packing in Game 6 of the ALCS here on Saturday night, the first thought that came into his head amid the roar coming from 38,000 throats was:

BOSTON — The perspective from the Red Sox bullpen is a bit different than say, from the box seats or the State Street Pavilion.

As Brian Abraham was watching Shane Victorino's dramatic grand slam clear the left field wall to send the Tigers packing in Game 6 of the ALCS here on Saturday night, the first thought that came into his head amid the roar coming from 38,000 throats was:

"I hope my wife doesn't go into labor."

Natalie Abraham is nine months pregnant, and not just approximately nine months pregnant, so their firstborn has a very good chance at being a World Series baby.

In his first year with the Red Sox as a coaching staff assistant and bullpen catcher, Abraham — a Worcester native who went to St. John's, then Holy Cross — has had a back-row seat to history in 2013.

"I had never actually even been to a playoff game before our first playoff game here," Abraham said. "so this is a dream come true, something I've dreamt about my whole life. It's a real high spot, but there have been so many high spots during the whole season."

Abraham has been right there for two of the most crucial plays of the entire postseason for the Red Sox, to date. One was David Ortiz's fly ball to right field in Game 1 of the Division Series, a ball that Wil Myers allowed to land on the warning track for a ground-rule double.

The other was Ortiz's grand slam in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the ALCS, a game Boston seemed destined to lose, with a loss sending the Sox off to Detroit down in the series, 2 games to none.

The grand slam will be a Red Sox playoff moment that will be remembered possibly for as long as baseball is played in Boston and the argument can be made that it had not happened, this would be a Tigers-Cardinals World Series.

On the Ortiz home run, Abraham said, "I was warming up (Junichi) Tazawa. I heard the crack of the bat, and I heard the crowd react. I looked up and yelled at Mani (Martinez) and he caught the ball.

"It was a confusing time. There's the ball, there's Torii (Hunter) on the ground and is he hurt? And now it's a tie game, so we've got to keep warming up the pitchers."

The ground-rule double was early in the game, so there was no concern about getting anyone warmed up, and it was a day game, which made things a little different.

"It's an interesting vantage point from where we are, and what we can see," Abraham said. "On the play by Myers, you could see it was a fly ball, then you could see it go into the sun, then it landed. The sun must have had something to do with it, and maybe the fans had something to do with it. I know (Myers) said he thought the center fielder was going after it."

With the thousands of seats in the bleachers and right field corner at Fenway, the bullpens are an excellent place to get a reading of how much fans are into a game.

"In the postseason," Abraham said, "the fans seem more into it right from the get-go than maybe in the regular season, but it's always intense. They're great fans. They're aware of what's happening. They don't need signs to tell them when to cheer, they don't have to look at the video screen to know when to stand up, and they don't need to wave rally towels.

"They're old-school fans, traditional fans and they're smart fans."

When Abraham worked for the Blue Jays, they never made the playoffs. Boston's run to the postseason this season might have seemed magical at times, but it was really pretty simple.

"Ultimately, it comes down to the players and their talent, and we have 25 talented players," Abraham said. "We've had some luck, and we've taken advantage of it, but good teams create their own luck."

With luck and talent, the Red Sox have created some excitement on the way to the World Series. How much more excitement the Abraham family can take is an entirely different story.

CDL A DELIVERY DRIVERS Home Every Night! Needed for our Worcester Depot! Drive local - No more spending valuable nights away from your family! As a Direct Store Delivery Representative YOU have the opportunity to make a difference with our customers! Provide excellent customer service; interact in a positive manner with our customers; deliver our products to local stores. Be home every night! Work for a Company that has been around for over 80 years! Minimum of 3 months driving experience with CDL A/B; GED or HS diploma required; Must be able to drive a standard transmission. EEO/Veteran/Disability Growing Strong Since1933!